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ESPN put out its SEC spring football preview on Thursday morning, where it sunk its teeth into each of the league’s 16 teams, detailing their top storylines, positions of intrigue and players to watch.
Much has been talked about regarding LSU head coach Brian Kelly, specifically how much pressure Kelly will be facing as he enters his 4th season in Baton Rouge. The Tigers went 9-4 in 2024, which is a solid record in most college football locales. But LSU isn’t your typical college football locale, and so much more is expected of the Tigers and Kelly in 2025.
Getting to the quarterback is always key in the always-rugged SEC, and ESPN’s Mark Schlabach pinpointed LSU’s pass rushers and who could have a drastic impact on that rush in 2025. Here is what Schlabach wrote about LSU’s situation at edge rusher entering spring camp:
The Tigers lost top edge rushers Bradyn Swinson and Sai’vion Jones, who combined for 13 sacks in 2024. LSU invested heavily in bringing in (Patrick) Payton (Florida State), (Jack) Pyburn (Florida) and Jimari Butler (Nebraska). Payton was the 2022 ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year and had 31 1/2 tackles for loss and 16 sacks in three seasons with the Seminoles. His production dropped off dramatically on a bad FSU team in 2024. He had four sacks — three came in one game against California.
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Schlabach believes that LSU’s ability to replace Swinson and Jones will go a long way toward maintaining that dominant pass rush in 2025. If the Tigers can get solid production out of those 3 transfers, who are all from Power 4 conferences, then Kelly might just be able to get LSU back to double-digit victories and ease some of that immense pressure that’s on him entering this season.
We’ll begin to find out about all that this spring.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
